Franco Mussida, the renowned Italian musician and researcher in the field of sound quality, has made an impressive return as a composer after a long hiatus with his latest album, “The Planet of Music and the Journey of Iòtu.” The album is a testament to Mussida’s exceptional musicianship and represents a significant milestone in his illustrious career.
Mussida is no stranger to the world of music. He was born in Piacenza, Italy in 1947 and began his musical journey at a young age studying classical guitar and composition. In the 1970s Mussida co-founded the progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), which became one of the most successful and influential bands in the history of Italian rock music.
Mussida’s new album “The Planet of Music and the Journey of Iòtu” is a musical odyssey that takes the listener on a journey through an imaginary world. The story follows Iòtu, a curious traveler who encounters a series of fascinating characters, each representing a different musical instrument. The music is captivating and evocative, partly because Mussida uses a guitar with an extraordinary, carefully crafted sound. Mussida focused on creating a sound that is free of violence and full of charm, a sound that supports the emergence of images and enhances his compositional artistry through recording techniques and a finely crafted palette of acoustic instruments.
The production of the album focused on the highest quality of sound recording to bring out the characteristics of the instruments and the expressiveness of the entire instrumental ensemble. Moondays, the production and publishing company behind the Pure Audio Blu-ray edition, oversaw the immersive concept, which was handled by engineer Lorenzo Cazzaniga at Alari Park Studios. The result is an immersive experience that evokes a multi-sensory response and immerses the listener in a three-dimensional sound space.
The album invites the listener to experience a deeply emotional impact by listening to their own inner silence, reflecting on themselves and gaining inner insights. The theme of silence is interwoven with the philosophy of the album, which is to seek and listen to one’s own consciousness. This idea is at the heart of all Moondays productions and editions, which are characterized by a continuous osmosis between the themes of art, cinema, literature, nature and spirituality.
In a recent interview, Mussida explained his musical philosophy: “To not only hear music, but to experience it, becomes an extremely profound experience when one is able to perceive the silence that lives in a world full of sound, not as an absence of sound, but as a subtle perception of the immense space in which sound can vibrate.”
With “The Planet of Music and the Journey of Iòtu” Mussida invites you to a journey of strong emotional impact, aimed at inner reflection and deep self-knowledge, listening to your own inner silence to create clarity, light, peace and trust. Overall, “The Planet of Music and the Journey of Iòtu” is a breathtaking work of art that pushes the boundaries of stereophonic sound and offers the listener a unique and immersive experience.
Mussida’s exceptional musicianship and Moonday’s visionary approach to sound engineering have resulted in an album that is both a technical masterpiece and a powerful work of art. It is a must for anyone who appreciates the power and beauty of music.